#timber rush

For the last time, Timber took off, rummaged around the room for the correct seed, and returned to plant the final seed.

Heartistry: So what kind of crazy plant knowledge do you have for us this time?

Timber: Actually, this is just a common fern. You can find these everywhere- Ponyville, Trottingham, Appleloosa, and even some parts of the Frozen North.

Heartistry: Oh... Well then.

With the final seed planted, watered, and sprouted, the puzzle was complete... or at least it seemed so.

Keira: Do you think we did it?

Heartistry: Wouldn't have something have clicked or something like that?

Moon Dancer: What if we actually did get it wrong and need to try again? I just hope we can try again...

As if driven by instinct, Timber trotted up to the plants and started to use his magic on one of the plants. As if time sped up in that instant, the first plant sped its growth and soon a full grown common fern was filling the pot to the point where roots were erupting from the sides.

Timber: Uh... guys?

Every pony turned around to see what Timber had done, a mixed reaction from the group.

Moon Dancer: Did you really just break that?!

Timber: No! I swear! I just went to use my magic on it to move it and this happened!

Hesitantly, Timber used his magic on one of the other pots. Sure enough, the same thing happened, only this time, the Dark Nightmareshade spread all over the pot and onto the floor.

Keira: That's it! I knew we were onto something! I think the flowers sprouted after Heartistry watered them because that was the right plant. For whatever reason, it just needed your magic to make them grow! Keep going!

Timber: Umm... Sure!

Just as Keira suspected, the pot containing Galaxia's Ghost and the Golden Persimmon seeds started to grow rapidly as a reaction to Timber's magic. The Galaxia's Ghost grew as if there was more than one seed in the pot and the Golden Persimmon tree practically exploded out of the pot, its roots scattering across the floor and its branches bearing fruit.

While this was happening, Discord took a peak outside of the room and let out an excited whoop as he dashed back into the room.

Discord: Keira, my darling! You've done it! Both you and Timber managed to solve the puzzle here! The section of the corridor that was missing is back!

Moon Dancer: Hey, I helped too!

Hearistry simply shrugged, knowing she didn't do much to help out in this situation.

Keira, in complete disbelief, ran out to see that her husband was indeed right! The section of the corridor that was once missing and blocked off by the barrier was there again!

Keira: Discord's right! I can't believe we actually did it!

Heartistry: Well, what are we waiting for?! Let's keep going!

Much like when they had first arrived at the temple, Discord was goofing off, but this time he seemed more observant to every pony than before. Heartistry and Keira looked through the titles of the books, Heartistry taking the higher parts of the shelves while Keira searched the lower part.

Keira: Anything yet?

Heartistry: Not really.

On the other end of the room, Timber and Moon Dancer took some time to examine the tree statue, its branches extending in six different directions. In the middle of the statue was a six-pointed star.

Moon Dancer: Keira, I think you might want to come look at this.

Keira stopped what she was doing to see what Moon Dancer was talking about. Upon closer inspection, Keira started to notice a few things.

Keira: Wait... This almost looks like the Tree of Harmony!

Timber: The tree of what now?

Keira: The Tree of Harmony. My friends, who are the other Elements of Harmony, and I used the power inside of a box it had to stop Tirek from destroying Equestia. But I never had a key to unlock the chest for some reason despite being an Element of Harmony myself.

Heartistry: Think that has anything to do with this statue?

Keira: I'm not sure, but now that you mention it, the shape in the middle... looks like the shape of my cutie mark!

Heartistry: It almost seems like there's six pieces that need to be put in.

Timber: I hate to say this... but I think we need to do some research... Again.

After what felt like hours of chasing the amulet, every pony else and Discord were able to catch up to Heartistry, who wasn't far behind the amulet.

Keira: We got to be close now! Keep focused, every pony!

The amulet continued to speed along until it had finally reached what appeared to be a corridor with some sort of ancient statues acting as guards. On the stone door between the statues was an indent in the center with four smaller indents around it. The amulet hovered in the middle, as if waiting for some force to put it into place. The indents around where the amulet hovered were hard to see, and even up close, their shapes were unclear.

Timber: Well, we finally caught it. But what is it doing?

Moon Dancer: The symbol on the door almost seems like what we saw in the library. More specifically, the cover of the book. What does every pony else think of this? Uh... Keira?

Keira stopped what she was doing for a moment and looked to see what Timber was talking about. Sure enough, there were some symbols in the bottom of each of the pots, each of them different from one another, as if to indicate what sort of plant were to go in which pot.

Keira: C with a sprout, E within a flower, P with a crossed out circle, and a T with a strange fruit shape? What could those possibly mean?

Every pony stopped to think these symbols over for a while, until Discord spoke up.

Discord: Perhaps they're indicating what kind of plant goes into each pot? Tree begins with T and fair amount of trees bare fruits, so maybe it wants a fruit baring tree in that one?

Keira: I think so... should we try it to see?

Moon Dancer: It's the best chance we got, but I'm not seeing any common fruit seeds. You would think there'd be an apple seed or something around here.

As they continued through the corridor, they came to a stop. The walkway was broken off and there was a room branching off. The group stopped, unsure of what to do for a moment.

Heartistry: Let me see if there's something on the other side!

Keira: No, Hearts! Wait!

But before Keira could stop her, Heartistry took off flying.

It only took a couple seconds for every pony to find there was some sort of magical barrier that prevented her from crossing over. With a solid "thump", the pegacorn came crashing back down.

Moon Dancer: Hey! Are you OK?

Heartistry staggered around a moment before shaking her head and coming back around.

Heartistry: Yeah, I'm fine. I just wasn't expecting there to be a barrier there.

Seeing that her friend was OK, Keira decided to take a look in the room that branched off, hoping maybe there was a solution to why the road was cut off.

Moon Dancer: Well, it's probably safe to say our magic won't do anything here for this.

Heartistry: Well, does any pony else have an idea of how to get across?

Timber: Discord! Why don't you snap us over there?!

Discord froze up, knowing he couldn't do anything to speak of.

Just as he was about to admit he was powerless in this temple, Keira came out of the room that was to the side.

Keira: Hey, Timber! I think I need your help here. There's a lot of plants and seeds in this room that I think you might know about.

Timber: A plant puzzle? Well, that's not something you hear of often. But sure thing, Cousin!

Soon, every pony else followed suit and started to look through books for even the slightest hint of something that could potentially lead to where the hidden pieces of the statue were. Moon Dancer was practically snout deep in one of the books, while Keira and Heartistry merely skimmed the pages for a hint or something unusual. Timber, however, was becoming bored fast, and was shaking books around with his magic, shaking them upside down to see what would fall out.

Moon Dancer: Timber! This would go so much smoothly if you just helped us read!

Timber: Sorry Moon, but if I have to read one more sentence tonight, I'm going to start using the pages a pillow.

Moon Dancer: Even so, you shouldn't go shaking ancient books like that! You're going to end up breaking them!

Timber: Me shaking the dust out of these books isn't going to break them!

Just as Timber had finished his sentence, a small slip of paper fluttered out from the pages and landed on the ground. Timber let out a nervous laugh, now gently setting the book down as Moon Dancer used her magic to grab the slip of paper, glaring bitterly at Timber as she did so.

Moon Dancer then looked at the paper and read the slightly faded text. Her expression went from cold and bitter to almost regretful.

Moon Dancer: Timber... I don't know how you managed to do this yet again, but I think you just pushed us in the right direction again!

Timber: I did? Er, I mean, I did! I knew me slacking off would be helpful!

After a few minutes of searching, Timber came back with what seemed to be an odd looking seed as well as a bag of potting soil.

Timber: So I happened to find these laying around, let's try it out!

Heartistry: Hold on! How do you know if that's the right seed?

Timber: Easy! This seed is from a golden persimmon. These are native to northeast Neighjing! I've never been there myself, but my father had friends from there and they sent us some fruits.

Moon Dancer: I guess we really don't have a choice here. Let's try planting it and see what happens.

With the utmost confidence, Timber poured the soil into the pot, used a stray stick to poke a hole in the soil, and planted the seed, taking special care to be sure it was covered properly. While doing that, Heartistry took off and had found a watering can, as well as a source of water. When given the signal, Heartistry used her magic and watered the plant.

Almost instantly, a small sprout emerged from the soil, but didn't do much else past that.

Moon Dancer: That looks like a good sign! And I think I may have figured out what one of the other pots are supposed to have. Since the one has a P with a crossed circle by it, it could mean something you don't want to touch.

Keira: A poisonous plant! Timber, see if you can find a seed that matches that!